Inverted water bottles having a dispensing tube extending from the lowermost portion are used by pet owners and in zoos, biological laboratories and the like to provide water to caged animals. Gravitational pull on the water creates a partial vacuum at the upper region of the bottle that prevents outflow through the tube. The animal obtains water by licking, nuzzling or pecking at the outlet of the tube.
Water dispensers of the above described kind have a number of advantages over an open water dish. The water in such a dispenser is less subject to fouling and contamination by the activities of the animal. this can be particularly important in the case of very young animals whose natural immunities to bacterial and viral diseases are not yet fully developed. Unlike a water dish, the inverted water bottle can be mounted on the outside wall of a cage. This avoids spillage by the activities of the animal and provides for more free space within the cage. The dispenser can be refilled without opening the cage which is a convenience and which can greatly reduce problems in tending for aggressive or hazardous animals.
The conventional animal water bottle was originally designed primarily for caged small animals such as rodents or small birds for example. The conventional construction of the bottle and its support structure is subject to problems when used for water larger animals such as dogs, cats or poultry for example. In the typical conventional construction the bottle is supported in part by the dispensing tube which extends into one of the openings in the mesh wall of the cage and rests on one of the wires of the mesh. The other support element of a typical prior construction is a wire or band which extends around an upper portion of the bottle and has ends hooked or otherwise engaged with the wires of the cage wall.
The above described prior construction must necessarily be located on a mesh wall and at the opposite side of the wall from the animal. Attachment structure for mounting the bottle at some other locations can be contrived but this is at best a considerable inconvenience. It would be advantageous if the water dispenser, as manufactured, was more readily adaptable to different locations and orientations and to attachment to different types of walls, fences, posts or other structures. Larger animals such as dogs, cats or poultry for example are often not kept in mesh cages. Such animals may be confined only by fences of any of a variety of types or by solid walls or may not be confined at all. If there is in fact a mesh fence available on which the water bottle can be mounted, the opposite side of the fence may not be readily accessible to the animal owner.
The above described prior construction also does not provide a desirably secure attachment of the bottle to the mesh wall. Larger animals may be capable of misorienting the bottle or dislodging it from the mesh wall.
Enlargement of the above described prior water dispenser assembly to meet the needs of larger animals also causes the device to project further out from the cage wall. This can be disadvantageous in situations where a cage or a number of cages are kept in constricted locations.
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems discussed above.